Printer with dual printing modules

ABSTRACT

A peripheral device with dual printing modules is provided for further assigning paper sheets, which are moving in a first paper track, into the first paper track or a second paper track. Furthermore, a first printing module and a second printing module are disposed on the first printing paper track and the second printing paper track, respectively. Therefore, a user can select an appropriate printing module for printing according to different requirements.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 095105142 filed in Taiwan, R.O.C. on Feb. 15, 2006, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a peripheral device with dual printing modules, and more particularly to a peripheral device with dual printing modules for assigning paper sheets between different paper tracks by feeding paper sheets from a single paper source, so as to use different modules for printing operations according to requirements.

2. Related Art

At present, as demand for printers grows rapidly, a multi-function design, i.e., a multi-function peripheral (MFP) with functions of printing, scanning, faxing, photocopying, and even reading cards additionally, is gradually becoming a trend. The printer is used more widely with years, and price is reduced accordingly owing to competition. Furthermore, in past it was only companies and organizations that used printers, at present, students and families have become users of printers as well.

As for mainstream of printers, laser printers have advantages of high-speed printing and inexpensive consumables, and particularly have an advantage that the black-and-white documents can be printed rapidly in large amounts with low cost. However, in the aspect of color printing at present time, the laser printers cannot print color documents or photographs with high color expression requirements like what inkjet printers do. Inkjet printers can print color documents or photographs with high color expression requirements, but cannot meet the requirement of rapidly printing in large amounts due to slow printing speed and high cost of consumables. Due to these problems, consumers have to buy both a laser printer and an inkjet printer. Considering space occupied, the two printers take much more space than a single multi-function printer. Considering cost of printing, the cost of black-and-white inkjet printing is higher than that of black-and-white laser printing, and as for printing speed, inkjet printing is inferior to laser printing. Therefore, the design of a printer with dual printing modules has appeared, wherein the printer is formed by integrating two printing modules into one printer, and particularly through integrating the laser printing module capable of rapidly printing in large amounts and the inkjet printing module capable of color printing, thereby satisfying users' requirements for printing different types of documents.

FIG. 1 is a structural schematic view of a conventional printer with dual printing modules.

FIG. 2 is a structural schematic view of the printer with dual printing modules from another angle of view.

The conventional printer with dual printing modules is formed by stacking a color inkjet printing device 110 and a laser printing device 120 on top of one another. The color inkjet printing device 110 is disposed on the top and includes a separate color printing paper feeding tray 111, a color inkjet printing module 112, and a color printing paper exit tray 113. The laser printing device 120 is disposed on the bottom and includes a separate laser printing paper feeding tray 121, a laser printing module 122, and a laser printing paper exit tray 123. Due to such stacking design with separate paper trays, the mechanism of the printer has a great number of means and becomes complicated, and meanwhile, has large size and volume.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,131 discloses a technology of dual printers with a first printing station and a second printing station, wherein the first a printing stations has a color print engine while the second printing station has a monochrome print engine. A print media queue with adjustable length is formed between the two printing stations. The print media queue can be formed by a guide roller that define a loop between the two printing stations and movably adjust the length of the loop. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,131, the two printing engines are disposed on a same paper path, so that the two printing engines share a same paper feeding tray and a same paper exit tray. Therefore, the problem that the two printing modules may interfere with each other due to excessively long printing media is not solved, i.e., when the front edge of a paper sheet to be printed arrives at the second printing station, a part of the paper sheet still remains at the first printing station, such that the next paper sheet cannot be printed at the first printing station. Furthermore, when the two printing stations are too far away from each other, the paper sheet must be traveled a long distance, thus reducing printing speed. Therefore, no matter which printing engine is used for printing, the paper sheet must pass two work stations. Thereby, too much time is wasted in waiting for the paper sheet to move in the paper path.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The conventional printer with dual printing modules has different types of printing devices stacking to each other, which operate independently without any mechanical relationship, the volume of the printer is large and the mechanism of it is complicated.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the object of the present invention is to provide a printer with dual printing modules for conveying paper sheets from a single paper source to different printing modules in accordance with requirements by assigning paper sheets to be printed, thus simplifying the overall structure.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a printer with dual printing modules of the present invention is provided, which includes a first paper track, a first printing module, a second paper track, a second printing module, and a sheet separator.

The first paper track is provided for conveying a paper sheet, and the first printing module is disposed on the first paper track.

The second paper track is connected to the middle portion of the first paper track, and the second printing module is disposed on the second paper track.

The sheet separator is disposed at where the second paper track connected to the first paper track and can be selectively rotated to a first position and a second position.

When the sheet separator is located at the first position, the paper sheet is continuously to be conveyed in the first paper sheet track to pass through the first printing module. When the sheet separator is located at the second position, the first paper sheet track is blocked off and the paper sheet is conveyed in the second paper track to pass through the second printing module.

Regarding to different requirements for printing documents, the first printing module and the second printing module can be a laser printing module and a color inkjet printing module, respectively. Color documents or high-resolution photographs can be printed by the inkjet printing module, while a large amount of black and white documents can be printed by the laser printing module rapidly.

Furthermore, the two printing modules of the present invention share a paper feeding tray and a paper exit tray; so that the volume of the printer with dual printing modules can be reduced. Meanwhile, paper sheets passing through different printing modules can move in different paths after being assigned, such that a single paper sheet need not pass through both the printing modules during each printing process. Compared with US Patent Publication No. 6,203,131, the present invention has a higher speed of conveying paper sheets.

The features and practice of the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be illustrated below in detail with reference to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below for illustration only, and which thus is not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic views of the conventional printer with dual printing modules;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a sheeting separating module according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a printer with dual printing modules according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are sectional views of the sheeting separating module of the present invention assigning paper sheets; and

FIGS. 7, 8, and 9 are schematic views of the printer with dual printing modules of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 3 is perspective view of a sheeting separating module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a printer with dual printing modules according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The printer with dual printing modules of the present embodiment is provided, which includes a first paper track 20, paper separating module 30, a second paper track 40, a first printing module 50, and a second printing module 60.

The paper separating module 30 is disposed on the first paper track 20 and includes a pair of brackets 31, a pivot 32, a sheet separator 33, a linkage element 34, and a driving element 35.

The brackets 31 are plate-shaped and disposed on both side edges of the first paper track 20, and protrude from a side surface of the first paper track 20.

The pivot 32 is a rod, which suspendedly bridges over the brackets 31 and the sheet separator 33 is pivotally disposed on the pivot, such that the sheet separator 33 is pivotally disposed on one side of the first paper track 20.

The sheet separator 33 is pivotally disposed on the pivot 32, and preferably, the middle portion of the sheet separator 33 is pivotally disposed on the pivot 32. A plurality of sheet separators 33 can be adopted and arranged in parallel. Further, the sheet separator 33 is a curved blade and pivotally disposed at where the second paper track 40 is connected to the first paper track 20 by the pivot 32.

The linkage element 34 is a rod, which is provided to connect the sheet separator 33 and the actuating unit 35, for transmitting force generated by the actuating unit 35 to the sheet separator 33.

The actuating unit 35 is a unit for generating linearly force, such as a solenoid. The actuating unit 35 is connected to one end of the linkage element 34 while the other end of the linkage 34 is connected to the sheet separator 33. When the user sends a printing module select signal to the printer, a control circuit of the printer controls the movement of the actuating unit 35. Thus, the actuating unit 35 directly or indirectly drives the sheet separator 33 to rotate through the linkage element 34, such that the sheet separator 33 may rotate between a first position and a second position. The actuating unit 35 can also be a device outputting force by rotating, so as to directly drive the sheet separator 33 to rotate without changing the direction of outputting force through the linkage element 34.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the sheeting separating module 30 before paper sheets are assigned.

When the user selects the first printing module 50 for printing, the actuating unit 35 generates a force upward. Then, the force is transmitted by the linkage element 34, so the sheet separator 33 rotates to be located at first position, and is laid in horizontal, such that the back-section of the first paper track 20 is opened, and at the same time, the second paper track 40 is blocked off. At this time, the paper sheet conveyed in the first paper track 20 is not interfered and is continuously to be conveyed forward along the first paper track 20 below the sheet separator 33 (as shown by the arrow in the figure), and then arrives and passes through the first printing module 50. Subsequently, the first printing module 50 begins printing.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the sheeting separating module 30 when paper sheets are assigned.

When the user selects the second printing module 60 for printing, the actuating unit 35 does not generate force upward. Similarly, by the linkage element 34, the sheet separator 33 is the second position and is tilted. Meanwhile, the back-section of the first paper track 20 is blocked, and the fore-section of the first paper track 20 is connected to the second paper track 40. At this time, the paper sheet conveyed in the first paper track 20 is interfered by the sheet separator 33, so as to move forward along the second paper track 40 and arrive and pass through the second printing module 60 (as shown by the arrow in the figure). Subsequently, the second printing module 60 begins printing.

As shown in FIG. 3 again, in order to smoothly convey the paper sheet from the first paper track 20 to the second paper track 40, a plurality of guide slots are formed on the first paper track 20 of the printer, wherein the number of the guide slots is the same as that of the sheet separators 33. When the sheet separator 33 is tilted to be located at second position, the ends of the sheet separators 33 which connected to the first paper track 20 are inserted into the guide slots respectively. Additionally, since the sheet separator 33 are curved-shaped, the paper sheet can be conveyed through the first paper track 20 to the second paper track 40 more smoothly.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 again, the first paper track 20 is connected to the paper feeding tray 71 of the printer. When the printing operation of the printer begins, paper sheets in the paper feeding tray 71 are conveyed in the first paper track 20. The separating module 30 assigns the paper sheets according to a printing module select signal sent by the user under the control of the control circuit of the printer.

The paper sheet assigning operations include:

1. If not assigned, the paper sheet is continuously conveyed forward in the first paper track 20.

2. If paper sheet is assigned to the second paper track 40, the paper sheet is guided to the second paper track 40, and is continuously conveyed forward in the second paper track 40. For detailed description about the separating module 30, please refer to the relevant descriptions of the embodiment of the separating module 30.

The second paper track 40 is connected to an output end of the separating module 30. The second paper track 40 has the same function as the first paper track 20, to convey paper sheets. When the separating module 30 assigns the paper sheets to the second paper track 40, the paper sheets is continuously conveyed in the second paper track 40.

The first printing module 50 is disposed on the path of the first paper track 20. When the paper sheets are conveyed to the first printing module 50 through the first paper track 20, the first printing module 50 starts to perform printing operations. After finishing the printing operation, the first printing module 50 conveys the printed paper sheets to the paper exit tray 72 through the first paper track 20 again. Thus, the printing operation is completed.

The second printing module 60 is disposed on the path of the second paper track 40, wherein the second printing module 60 is an inkjet printing module, but it can also be a laser printing module. When the paper sheets are conveyed through the second paper track 40 to the second printing module 60, the second printing module 60 starts to perform the relevant printing operations. After finishing printing, the second printing module 60 conveys the printed paper sheets to the paper exit tray 72 through the second paper track 40 again. Thus, the printing operation is completed. The user can take the printed documents from the paper exit tray 72. The first printing module 50 and the second printing module 60 are of different types to meet different printing requirements.

In order to let the user use the printer conveniently, the printer has a manual paper feeding tray 81 provided for a user manual feeding paper sheets and connected to the first paper track 20 ahead the sheet separator 33 or the separating module 30. When the user manual feeds the paper sheet to be printed through the manual paper feeding tray 81, the paper sheet in fed into the first paper track 20 and then conveyed by the first paper track 20. At this time, the user can also select a proper printing module for printing, and the sheet separator 33 or the separating module 30 also assigns the paper sheets. The paper sheets which has been printed by the first printing module 50 can also be received by a paper exit tray 72 or a single paper output track 82 connected to the first paper track 20 through another separating module (not shown) disposed additionally.

As shown in FIG. 7, it shows variations in settings of the manual paper feeding tray 81. Two manual paper feeding trays 81 are connected to the first paper track 20 and the second paper track 40, respectively, for user manual feeding paper sheet into the first paper track 20 and the second paper track 40, such that paper sheets can be assigned directly in a manual mode, instead of through the separating module 30.

As shown in FIG. 8, a printer with dual printing modules is modified form the printer in FIG. 7. By changing the paper sheet output direction of the second paper track 40, paper sheets output from the first paper track 20 and the second paper track 40 are prevented from mixing together in the paper exit tray 72, such that paper sheets printed by different printing modules can be separated.

FIG. 9 shows the configuration of another type of peripheral with dual printing modules. The paper sheet output directions of the first paper track 20 and the second paper track 40 are turned to two sides of the printer with dual printing modules, respectively, such that paper sheets to be printed by the printing modules 50 and 60 are output in different directions. Thus, paper sheets printed by different printing modules can be separated.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims. 

1. A printer with dual printing modules, comprising: a first paper track, for conveying a paper sheet; a first printing module, disposed on the first paper track; a second paper track, for conveying the paper, connected to the middle portion of the first paper track; a second printing module, disposed on the second paper track; and a sheet separator, disposed at where the second paper track connected to the first paper track and selectively rotated to a first position and a second position, wherein when the sheet separator is located at the first position, the paper is continuously to be conveyed in the first paper track to pass through the first printing module; and when the sheet separator is located at the second position, the first paper track is blocked by the sheet separator and the paper is conveyed in the second paper track to pass through the second printing module.
 2. The peripheral device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet separator is curved blade.
 3. The peripheral device according to claim 1, wherein the printer comprises a plurality of sheet separators, wherein the sheet separators are arranged in parallel.
 4. The peripheral device according to claim 1, further comprising a pivot and a set of brackets, wherein the brackets are disposed on both side edges of the first paper track; the pivot suspendedly bridges over the bracket, and the sheet separator is pivotally disposed on the pivot, such that the sheet separator is pivotally disposed on one side of the first paper track.
 5. The peripheral device according to claim 1, further comprising an actuating unit to drive the sheet separator to rotate between the first position and the second position.
 6. The peripheral device according to claim 5, wherein the actuating unit is a solenoid.
 7. The peripheral device according to claim 5, further comprising a linkage element for connecting the sheet separator and the actuating unit.
 8. The peripheral device according to claim 7, wherein the linkage element is a rod.
 9. The peripheral device according to claim 1, further comprising a manual paper feeding tray connected to the first paper track ahead the sheet separator, wherein the manual paper feeding tray is provided for a user manual feeding paper sheets to be printed into the first feeding track.
 10. The peripheral device according to claim 1, further comprising a manual paper feeding tray connected to the first paper track for a user manual feeding paper sheets into to be printed into the first paper track.
 11. The peripheral device according to claim 1, further comprising a manual paper feeding tray connected to the second paper track for a user manual feeding paper sheets to be printed into the second paper track.
 12. The peripheral device according to claim 1, further comprising a single paper output tray connected to the first paper track, wherein paper sheets been printed by the first paper module is received by single paper output track. 